Shocktoberfest & Terror Behind the Walls at Eastern State Penitentiary

**j2gibson** · 09-20-2009,05:12 PM

Thinking about getting a group of friends together and taking the 2 hour drive to Reading, PA for Shocktoberfest on a Friday. Then on Saturday to Philly for the Terror Behind the Walls at Eastern State Penitentiary...anyone been to either and have any thoughts? Good, bad, indifferent?

**briwesk** · 09-20-2009,06:28 PM

i live in orange county NY and every year i go down to Lancaster on columbus day weekend. well last year we decided it would be cool to go there...... the lines were OUT OF CONTROL!

now im the type of person who is willing to wait, but my friends on the other hand werent. so we didnt stay so i cant say how it was. Ive seen all the videos and everything filmed inside, and it looks really cool. What i really wanna do is take a day time tour there, that place looks amazing

**Feltburner** · 09-20-2009,06:32 PM

never been to Shocktoberfest, but went to Eastern State on two occasions, several years apart. In my opinion, it was better several years ago, when they relied more upon the building and its history to generate some good atmosphere, to which they added a few scares here and there. A second visit two years ago was much different- much more money thrown into it and more professionally done from a "haunted attraction" point of view, but lost much of the authenticity so in my opinion wasn't as special as it had been. You may also want to squeeze a visit to the Bates Motel and Haunted Hayride (in Glen Mills, PA) while in the area- a so-so haunted house but the hayride is worth the trip- great theatrical effort and effects.

**runmikeyrun** · 09-20-2009,07:07 PM

Feltburner, i'm not sure how far you are willing to travel, but in Mansfield, OH (northeast of Columbus, southwest of Cleveland) they have a haunted prison that's more historical, you get to walk through all the cell blocks and they are like 6 stories high! The website isn't impressive but the haunt is pretty good, they're not as high tech as other haunts.

Haunted X Enterprise

**Feltburner** · 09-21-2009,05:46 AM

thanks, runmikeyrun. not into traveling that far, but it sounds cool, similar to what the Eastern State haunt used to be.

**CraigInPA** · 09-21-2009,06:13 AM

If you're going to Eastern State during late October on a Saturday night, you should buy advance tickets. It's VERY popular, and they limit the number of people per hour. If you just show up and buy a ticket, you might find you'll have to wait 2 hours until there's an opening in one of the time slots.

If you're getting up a group, you can get a significant discount through advance purchase. Also, if you hit it before the end of September, it's, IIRC, buy-one-get-one-free admission.

Craig

**creepy crawler** · 09-21-2009,11:59 AM

I have also been to both Shocktoberfest is my wife's favorite one around. We did like Terror Behind The Walls I for the prison side of it. It was very quick in and out in about a half hour. It was recommended somewhere above but the Bates Motel Haunted House is IMO one of the best ones around. But yes all 3 are good!

**jlb307** · 09-21-2009,02:31 PM

I live like 1/4 mile from Shocktoberfest and grew up down the street from where it's held, and last year was the first time I actually made it. Had a great time, even my wife who couldn't care less about Halloween had a good time. The prison haunt was awesome.
Neat set-up, friendly staff, but I couldn't bring myself to check out the Geek show....maybe next year.
Definitely worth checking out.

**deathshead67** · 10-31-2009,04:28 PM

Went there last night. Drove 2 hours from Jersey and this was my 2nd time there. I was disapppointed. It was exactly like 2 years ago, nothing changed. The best part was the 3d room that you wear the glasses and also the ride to Gino's Chesse Steaks........My kids loved them!